Using Indicators of Multiple Deprivation to Demonstrate the Spatial Legacy of Apartheid in South Africa

This paper presents a spatial analysis of multiple deprivation in South Africa and demonstrates that the most deprived areas in the country are located in the rural former homeland areas. The analysis is undertaken using the datazone level South African Index of Multiple Deprivation which was constructed from the 2001 Census. Datazones are a new statistical geography designed especially for this Index using techniques developed in the United Kingdom. They are smaller in population size than wards, enabling fine-grained spatial analysis of deprivation across the whole of South Africa. The spatial scale used is the smallest to be used in a developing country to date. Levels of deprivation are compared between former homeland areas as a whole, the rest of South Africa and a case-study township, as well as between each former homeland. Individual dimensions of deprivation and an overall composite measure are presented. Municipality-level analysis shows that this spatial pattern of multiple deprivation continued to persist in 2007, demonstrating the ongoing spatial legacy of apartheid.